John Schwatschke

John Schwatschke was born in Dublin in 1943. His father was born in Austria and his mother from Carlow Town, where the family settled and lived for over fifty years.

Schwatschke studied Art and Architecture in Dublin and Munich and originally made his name as a classical portrait painter, including some very prominent individuals: Ingrid Bergman, Robert Mitchum, Harold Robbins, Cyril Cusack, the Duke of Edinburgh and Eamon de Valera to name but a few.

He kept an art studio in Provence in the 1970's where he was a neighbour of Picasso, later moving to live in Santa Barbara.